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Scotland's Universities have generated many new technologies and discoveries that have been commercialised successfully. Scottish universities have a long tradition of innovation and were key in the fundamental scientific and engineering advances in modern mathematics, chemistry and engineering and medicine. (We invented the decimal point).
In recent years universities have capitalised on their research through technology licensing and through the formation of spinout companies, several of which have gone on to major success developing further new technologies.
Below is a short selection of technologies and discoveries that have made it to market. These include technologies that are part of everyday objects such as solar cells on calculators to anaesthetics.
Atracurium - An ongoing medical technology licensing success
Atracurium, the muscle relaxant is used by anaesthetists in more than half of all operations world-wide. This success story ranks as one of the University of Strathclyde's most notable commercial achievements to date: it has brought in more than £28.5 million in royalties to the University.
Professor John Stenlake started his research into muscle relaxants shortly after joining the University of Strathclyde in the 1950's.This work resulted in the University designing and synthesising the drug in the 60s and 70s. Atracurium is one of the few drugs to have been developed to this stage in a university environment.
Through licensing this medical technology to what is now GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) it was subsequently developed and launched commercially in 1982 winning the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement in 1986.
Ultrasound for Medical Diagnosis - the birth of a new medical technology
Professor Ian Donald of the University of Glasgow started to use sonar for medical diagnosis in the 1950s. His breakthrough came when he used ultrasound to diagnose a huge, easily removable, ovarian cyst in a woman who had been diagnosed as having inoperable cancer of the stomach.
In 1959 Ian Donald found that clear echoes could be obtained from the foetal head and began to apply the technique in this area.
This technology has now progressed to the extent that it is now used to monitor the development of every baby in the developed world.
Amorphous silicon (a-Si) - the basis of a multi-billion dollar market
Research at the University of Dundee in the 1970s headed by Professor Walter Spear, led to the landmark discovery that it was possible to dope a-SI ( against thinking of the time ) to control its electrical properties. Dundee University also made the first film field effect transistor from a-Si, opening up its use for flat screen displays.
This work has made possible the commercial exploitation of a-SI thin films. Today this discovery is exploited in 40% of the world's solar cells and in fax machines, photocopiers and flat screen displays and televisions.
Glasgow Coma Scale
The Glasgow Coma scale, established by Professor Graham M Teasdale and Professor Bryan Jennett of the University of Glasgow in 1974, is the most widely used scoring system used in quantifying level of consciousness following traumatic brain injury.
Magnetic Resonance Research
Pioneering work carried out at the University of Aberdeen on whole-body human imaging (MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging) led to the development of the Spin-Warp technique in the early 1980s . This has become the basis of most modern MRI methods.
The Magnetic Resonance research group continue to work on a number of innovative projects. These include techniques for detecting and imaging free radicals in biological tissues and methods for greatly enhancing image quality at extremely low magnetic field.
Smart Wheelchair
The University of Edinburgh developed the Smart Wheelchair in 1987, for children with severe and multiple disabilities who could not use ordinary mobility aids.
The Smart Wheelchair can be driven in a variety of ways to suit its user. It is also fitted with bumpers to protect the pilot and the environment - on collision, the chair stops and takes avoiding action. The chair can also follow lines on the floor from room to room or through tight situations like doorways.
In 1998, the Smart Wheelchair was awarded the Gold Award for Technology for Special Educational Needs at BETT (British Education and Teaching Technology Show). The judges described it as "leaping beyond what was previously thought possible."
World's smallest colour TV screen
MicroEmissive Displays, a spinout of Edinburgh and Napier University is in the Guinness Book of Records having fabricated the smallest television screen.
The company was set up to develop light-emitting polymer-based microdisplays for use in portable consumer products such as digital still and video cameras has quickly established itself as the world's leading developer of polymer organic light emitting diode (P-OLED) based microdisplays. Its technology improves on competing liquid crystal and liquid-crystal-on-silicon microdisplays by consuming less power and using standard electronic interfaces.
The company was listed on AIM in 2004 and retains close links to the University of Edinburgh with its headquarters based at the Scottish Microelectronics Centre on campus.
CMOS - image sensor technology
VLSI Vision Ltd was founded in 1990 by Professor Peter Denyer from the University of Edinburgh to pioneer the development of CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensor technology in a wide range of commercial applications.
The continuing development of new camera-based product lines in the 1990s supported Vision's progress in establishing CMOS as the mainstream camera technology of the future.
Vision grew to become the world's leading producer of cost-effective, highly integrated cameras and vision systems. Its products were successfully utilised in desktop video conferencing, digital cameras (including camera phones), security, biometrics, automotive systems and toys.
Vision Group was subsequently acquired by STMicroelectronics (becoming their Imaging Division) and continues to produce CMOS image sensors.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) Recorder
Glasgow University software within an electrocardiogram (ECG) recorder was awarded the prestigious US-based Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) product of the Year Award.
Quinton received the HIDA award for its Burdick-branded Atria 3000 ECG recorder which features software developed in partnership with the University. The Atria 3000 combines cutting edge capabilities, such as wireless communications, within a traditional ECG recorder and features the University's ECG Interpretation Algorithm.